nd in debt, and to crown all, she was so
undisguisedly hideous that the Baron at last believed her to be all she
said she was.

"Vell den, I shall pay the hundert tousant, and vere shall I see
her?" said he, with the air of a man who has made up his mind to any
sacrifice.

"My fat friend, you shall come this evening--in your carriage, of
course--opposite the Gymnase. It is on the way," said Asie. "Stop at the
corner of the Rue Saint-Barbe. I will be on the lookout, and we will go
and find my mortgaged beauty, with the black hair.--Oh, she has splendid
hair, has my mortgage. If she pulls out her comb, Esther is covered as
if it were a pall. But though you are knowing in arithmetic, you strike
me as a muff in other matters; and I advise you to hide the girl safely,
for if she is found she will be clapped into Sainte-Pelagie the very
next day.--And they are looking for her."

"Shall it not be possible to get holt of de bills?" said the
incorrigible bill-broker.

"The bailiffs have got them--but it is impossible. The girl has had a
passion, and has spent some money left in her hands, which she is now
called upon to pay. By the poker!--a queer thing is a heart of two
and-twenty."

"Ver' goot, ver' goot, I shall arrange all dat," said Nucingen, assuming
a cunning look. "It is qvite settled dat I shall protect her."

"Well, old noodle, it is your business to make her fall in love with
you, and you certainly have ample means to buy sham love as good as the
real article. I will place your princess in your keeping; she is bound
to stick to you, and after that I don't care.--But she is accustomed to
luxury and the greatest consideration. I tell you, my boy, she is quite
the lady.--If not, should I have given her twenty thousand francs?"

"Ver' goot, it is a pargain. Till dis efening."

The Baron repeated the bridal toilet he had already once achieved; but
this time, being certain of success, he took a double dose of pillules.

At nine o'clock he found the dreadful woman at the appointed spot, and
took her into his carriage.

"Vere to?" said the Baron.

"Where?" echoed Asie. "Rue de la Perle in the Marais--an address for the
nonce; for your pearl is in the mud, but you will wash her clean."

Having reached the spot, the false Madame de Saint-Esteve said to
Nucingen with a hideous smile:

"We must go a short way on foot; I am not such a fool as to have given
you the right address."

"You tink of eferytink!" said th